Sunshine: Thursday April 24, 2014

Talk about turning your life around. A 24-year-old man in England, who was bullied as a child for being overweight, has now been offered a superstar gig. Nathan Hewitt, who at 15 weighed over 300 pounds, has not only lost the weight, but has become quite the looker.

After years of bullying, culminating in being ridiculed on a roller coaster ride, Nathan decided it was about time to take off the weight and lost 168 pounds. And the much slimmer Nathan wound up looking awfully like soccer star David Beckham, and he was recently offered a chance to become a Becks impersonator.

But believe it or not, Nathan turned down the gig, mostly because “he knows nothing about football.” Said Nathan, “It is one thing to look like him but I would feel a bit daft trying to pass myself off as one of the most famous footballers in the world.” And besides, Nathan would rather help other kids struggling like he did. He’s become a trainer and even received government funding to help battle Britain’s childhood obesity crisis. “I’ve been there, I know how it feels to be massive – you only have to look at my old photographs to see I was huge,” he said. “But I can use my experience to encourage other overweight children to slim down and change to healthy lifestyles. It’s hard but it is do-able and I’m the example of that.” He doesn’t need to pretend to be a superstar…because he already is one.